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First, I would like to say that I am new to the forum and I have read some posts in here and people can be pretty ruthless so I am preparing myself for some good answers. That being said here are a couple of questions:

I have taken the 66 twice and have failed both times. (Took the 7 first time and passed it on first try..74%) I am taking it for the third time later this month. Any tips on what areas to concentrate on?
Are there people on this post who have taken this test or another test multiple times before they past it? (This may me a dumb question...those who scored 99% on tests need not reply)
Does taking a test multiple times, darken your chances of being successful in this industry?

No. I have a friend who's doing quite well running his own office, but can't seem to pass the 66. He gets right on the edge and fails by a question or two every time. It's one of the most maddening mysteries I've seen, but it doesn't affect his ability to make money (at least not much - he does mostly annuities and mutual funds)

Bucs fan you are clearly a very intelligent guy based on the football team that you have chosen to support.

What materials are you using? If you are using pass perfect then they have some additional items your firm may have not provided. I bought the study guide and it helped me review and pass the series 66 on my first attempt. Its about 50 pages and does a good job of summing everything up so you can get your head around it, I read it twice the weekend before the exam.

If you have read the whole book cover to cover at least once again and score at least 80% on the practice tests and chapter quiz before you take the 66 you will pass.

The first time I took it I used STC material
The second time I used Dearborn
Now I am using Kaplan...it seems to be a little easier to understand the concepts.
Its great to see another Bucs fan, MoneyGuy...there aren't to many of us around!!

I’m was in the exact same boat 5 months ago. I passed the 7 on the first shot and them failed the 66 twice by a combined 4 questions. I’ve never been so close to throwing a computer as I was when I saw “70%…FAIL”. I finally passed on my third try. I did use the STC book and then I bought a bank of questions from Kaplan. But what I feel helped the most…I went old school…I used flash cards. I went through the entire pack of 100ish cards. I would spend half and hour and memorize 10 cards and then move onto another 10 cards. It was time consuming but better than failing again and waiting 6 months.

I passed the 66 the first time but by a much lower margin than the 7, even though I studied for both for 6 weeks! (Took a while to get a test date for the 66.) It’s not that the material is “hard” but just that there is no study curriculum that prepares you for it. I’ve met SEVERAL people who have failed the 66, including two branch managers, several reps, etc. It’s just vague material that is difficult to get adequate preparation for. I though I’d faield when I finished and consider having passed to be total luck.

Keep at it, and don't lose faith. I know what you're going through. I came to ML with my Series 7 in hand. Given it had been a while since I took one of these exams, I rested faith only in the STC materials for the 66 (they helped a lot in prepping for the 7). I took the 66 and came up 2 points shy of passing - needless to say, I thought they'd hand me a pink slip when I returned to the office that day. Instead, ML gives you another shot, and it turns out some of the smartest, most successful FA's you'll meet did not pass the 66 on the first go around. It is simply a TOUGH test with some weird verbage and contradictory statements. If you don't READ VERY CAREFULLY, you can easily fail.
Needless to say, I studied my butt off the second time using STC and Fire Solutions (made available by ML internally, which I found very helpful). Got an 80% second time around.
1) Be thankful you're still with your firm after 2 fails
2) You can pass this test, it just takes a lot of practice with the way they word the questions. This is not a knowledge-based test - heck, I graduated in the top of my class in finance back in college and had 5 years prior industry experience. That means nothing - this is a 'standardized test' in every respect and nothing more.
Good luck!

IMHO, that test is like hearding cats. You just don't know what to study. Fortunately, my firm had us use the Smart 66 web study tool by Pass Perfect. I made a good score, but it was the most boring material in the world.

I agree with the people that are saying to take a lot of exams. I passed the Series 7 with absolutely no problem. The Series 66 test was more of a problem for me because I was always tight on time. I did pass the first time but I think that I must have taken about 20 practice exams from Kaplan, STC, and Empire Stockbroker Training Institute. I would suggest that you time yourself and read every answer before making your choice. They seem to almost always give 2 possible answers that might be correct (i.e. good answer, better answer).

Well I can tell you that Pass Perfect for the S66 really let me down. The material is riddled with typos and much of it isn’t update to date in comparison to the other competitors (Training Consultants.)

The support with Pass Perfect has become rather less than par, my firm has altogether stopped using them.

I’d steer away, I thought I had a good handle but the material and practice exams were way off.